Sunday, 26 September 2010

Quote of the day...

...goes to the Daily Mail, in their continual quest to out-sensationalise themselves;

As the son of a North London Marxist intellectual, you might expect Ed Miliband to have a less than conventional approach to traditional family values.

And the birth certificate of his 15-month-old son, Daniel, would appear to bear this out, as it includes everything except any mention of the boy’s proud father.

Although the section headed ‘Father’ is blank, Daniel’s mother Justine Thornton is named, along with her Manchester birthplace and profession, barrister.

Daniel was born on June 2 last year and the birth ­certificate was signed by Justine in Camden, near the couple’s London home, five weeks later on July 9.

There is no suggestion that Ed Miliband is not Daniel’s father and when asked why his name is not on the register, a spokeswoman for the new Labour leader suggested he simply had not had time to fill in the form.

This is not the only unusual aspect of his private life, as Mr Miliband is also the first leader of a major British political party to be living with his family out of wedlock. He and Justine, who will give birth to the couple’s second child in little over a month, are not married.

Are you not outraged? Do you not have the urge to grab your letter-writing pen and stab it at some paper in a paroxysm of rage, or yell ill-informed rhetoric into the phone at a talk-radio host? Are you not worried that society is crumbling around your ears and the anti-Christ is cometh?

If you answered no to any or all of the above questions, then you're sane. You're also a member of the far-left-Marxist-politically-correct-homosexualist-brigade and should be ashamed of yourself.

Of course, the Mail stands out as the lunatic fringe of the mainstream media. But its "go against our wishes and you instantly become the embodiment of all we hate" mentality prevails elsewhere. Hence how a fairly dull, upper middle class career politician who follows the traditional centre-right line about the "squeezed middle" class has been branded "Red Ed," stooge of the unions.

In reality, nobody who asks that unions (already reformist safety valves for worker discontent) show "restraint" about the cuts cannot seriously be labelled as a "red."

Not that this matters. The point is that serious efforts to defend the working class are preemptively attacked as "extremist" and "radical," and that Labour are unsubtly reminded to stay within the narrow confines of the mainstream political spectrum. Even social-democratic capitalism is worryingly "red."

To which, the "out of wedlock" story only adds a delightful sprinkle of nuttiness. As if we needed proof that the media was utterly out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people.